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    Soulmates Through Time
    Soulmates Through Time
    Soulmates Through Time
    Ebook310 pages4 hours

    Soulmates Through Time

    By Grace Brannigan

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Soulmates Through Time, Book 2: Thrust from her own time, 1822, to the 21st century, Elise Remington has been separated from the man she loves for 24 years. She has adjusted to the present time, raised her daughter and created success in her life, but she can't seem to forget the man she left behind.

    When Elise stumbles upon the way back to that time, she must decide if it's worth it to take that step back. Will Darien still love her? Does she want to go back after all this time? And will she love the man that Darien is today?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGrace Brannigan
    Release dateSep 16, 2012
    ISBN9781939061041
    Soulmates Through Time
    Author

    Grace Brannigan

    I live in the scenic Catskill Mountains of New York and I have been writing in one format or another as long as I can remember. I write in various genres and love strong heroines, family minded characters and sexy heroes. I love writing and also creating art in various mediums. I write about strong women facing life altering issues. My first series are stand alone books, Women of Character contemporary romances: Echoes from the Past, Once and Always, Heartstealer and Wishing on a Rodeo Moon. My second series is Women of Strength time travel trilogy, Once Upon a Remembrance, Book 1, Soulmates Through Time, Book 2, and Treasure So Rare, Book 3. I also have a Faeries Lost series, Romantic Shorts, and new this year Young Adult Time Travel with a Twist. Thanks for stopping by. My young adult has its own page at http://www.GraceBranniganYoungAdult.com I hope you enjoy my stories as much as I enjoyed writing them. ENJOY.

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      Book preview

      Soulmates Through Time - Grace Brannigan

      SOULMATES THROUGH TIME

      by Grace Brannigan

      Women of Strength Time Travel Series

      Once Upon A Remembrance Book 1

      Soulmates Through Time Book 2

      Treasure So Rare Book 3

      Women of Character Contemporary Series

      Echoes From The Past

      Once and Always

      Heartstealer

      Wishing on a Rodeo Moon

      Romantic Shorts

      Two Babies, a Cowboy and Sara

      Deception

      Faeries Lost Series coming 2013

      Author Website: http://www.GraceBrannigan.com

      All Characters, places and events are fictitious and are not associated or inspired by any person living or dead. The author was not striving for historical accuracy as all places and events are purely fiction and not intended to be historically accurate.

      Soulmates Through Time

      by Grace Brannigan

      Copyright 2012 Elaine Warfield

      ISBN: 978-1-939061-04-1

      Smashwords License Notes

      All rights reserved. This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, mechanical, photographic, electronic or in the form of an audio recording or stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise be copied for public or private use -- other than for brief quotations in articles and reviews without prior written consent from the publisher Questor Books.

      This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. Happy reading!

      Questor Books, P.O. Box 100, East Jewett, New York, 12424  USA

      About Soulmates Through Time

      Book 2 in the time travel series: Thrust from her own time in 1822, Elise has been separated from the man she loves for 24 years. She has adjusted to modern times, raised a daughter, and become successful in her own right. When she stumbles upon the way back, she must make the decision to step back into that time. Will Darien still love her and will Elise be able to turn back the clock and regain the love they once shared? Does she want to turn back time? Will she love today the man she knew back then?

      Prologue ~ 1807

      Aleanna knew she was dying. There was no sense railing against it, in truth she had lost much of the will to fight with the death of her love.

      Mandine's thin boned hand pressed the scented cloth gently across her fevered brow, then moved soothingly along her jaw.

      Aleanna's rich brown hair splayed against stark white pillows in a luxuriant, waving mass, framing once radiantly alive features. The eyes were now dull, stripped of the spirit of life, her complexion pale and waxen.

      Aleanna, my Aleanna. The young woman responded to the sorrowful whisper, her head turning on the pillow.

      My baby? Aleanna's voice was a mere thread of sound, quickly lost in the hush of the room.

      She is here.

      Into her line of vision a small bundle appeared, warmly swaddled in soft blankets.

      Caring hands shaped Aleanna's limp arms into a cradle, and a weight suddenly lay against her breast. A warm, wanted weight.

      Her child.

      With immense effort, Aleanna looked down at the child in her arms.

      My darling, she whispered. Your hair is red. A pleased smile played upon bloodless lips, then she leaned her weary head back into the pillow.

      She was so tired -- she wished only to close her eyes. She fought the sensation, for she knew there was something she must do.

      Weakly, she lifted one hand and caught the hand of the woman who hovered beside the bed.

      Mandine, you must --

      The dark-garbed figure bent closer to catch the words Aleanna could barely get out.

      Tell me, Aleanna, her caregiver, the woman named Mandine, urged. Tell me of your wishes. Do you wish vengeance?

      Protect my daughter.

      I shall protect her from that one, Mandine hissed balefully. I shall take her away this night.

      No. Aleanna clutched Mandine's forearm with surprising strength, her face, if it were possible, growing even more ashen. No, you know he will find you, track you down. Hurt both of you. I wish it were otherwise, but -- She lay back, utterly exhausted. I ask that you guide her. Shield her as best you can.

      The dark-garbed figure picked up the infant, held her closely against her breast.

      You know I will do what is best for your child. Mandine bowed her head, dark eyes burning. I will protect the wee one as if she were my own.

      Yes, murmured Aleanna faintly, her eyes flickering for the last time, I know you will take care of my Elise.

      Mandine placed the infant in a small cradle, swaddled her in the softest of wool.

      My dearest Aleanna, you barely cling to life and so it is time. With a flick of her gnarled fingers, Mandine cast tiny particles across Aleanna's bed. In the shadowy room, each particle captured fragments of light from two lit candles beside the bed. Every corner of the room filled with a splintering rainbow of glorious color.

      Mandine leaned over the young woman she had raised since she was a five-year old orphan. Gently, she closed Aleanna's eyes. And so it is, the journey begun.

      Present Time

      Chapter One

      The car turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

      Elise let her hand fall to her side. Isabeau. She is so happy.

      She lifted her face to the deep blue heavens, praying her daughter would fare better in love than she had. Elise left the porch and entered the house. Almost restlessly, she wandered into her office, the cozy corner where she penned her novels.

      Narrowing her eyes against the bright sun slanting into the writing corner, Elise opened the window and allowed the unseasonable warmth of the day into the room. The massive oaks framing her yard were beginning to bud with new green, announcing the arrival of spring.

      She stared at the distant horizon where the mountains had shed their gray, wintery look. She questioned, as she had done countless times before, the hand which fate had dealt her. At thirty-nine, Elise had long ago let girlish dreams drift into the mist of her past. It had saved her sanity, and undoubtedly the life of her then-unborn daughter, but a part of her had ground to a standstill one night twenty-four years ago.

      When her daughter Isabeau was an infant, Elise had nearly driven herself crazy with desire for the man she loved. As her daughter grew older, Elise had come to realize it would be a grievous error to take Isabeau from the security of the life she knew. It was for that reason that Elise, for all intents and purposes, had let her past die, crushing every memory which was destined to bring her heartache. For the sake of her daughter, the past had remained undisturbed until now. Until today. When her daughter had shared with her -- her own experience of traveling through time, it had awoken in Elise a long buried ache, the yearning for the life that had been taken from her. The life she had left back in 1822. Her life was devoid of the love she had once embraced so joyfully, yet so dangerously. Darien.

      Her writing gave her immense satisfaction. It was a career that developed in the long nights she'd spent working as a night shift operator for a local business. Now, she lived quite comfortably on her earnings and had even learned computer skills with her daughter's help.

      In the last twenty-four years Elise had grown quite independent, had learned to rely on herself, and had made a new life for she and her daughter. But even her success as a historical fiction writer did not compensate for the absence of the man she had loved.

      Elise picked up the review of her latest novel. She smiled because really, at times she felt an utter and complete fraud. Elise Lancaster certainly brings a new freshness to her latest novel set in the early nineteenth century. The daily life and customs are so exquisitely detailed and researched, one would think she lived in that era. And she had.

      She had been lucky in this life, blessed with more than many people, and for that she was thankful, but somehow, in some way, she needed to extricate her thoughts, longings, and desires from the past, so that she could move forward in the present.

      Thinking back over time, she reflected on the events which had occurred in this world and beyond. She knew firsthand the power of thoughts and longings. Long ago she had learned that time was split into many frames, and even though she could view only one at any given moment, she knew other realities existed. Time moved and changed continuously in accordance with the decisions which were made. She had often wondered if there was a way to flit between times, but that had been dangerous thinking for a woman with a small child.

      And so Elise had accepted her path, but God! How lonely it had been at times.

      With a soft catch of her breath, Elise choked back the tears, touching the delicately unfolding petals of a purple iris her daughter had brought for her. It was too early to be planted outside, despite the day's endearing warmth. She knew firsthand how harsh and unyielding the mountains could be to those who didn't adapt.

      Gracefully, Elise sat in her writing chair, staring broodingly at the soaring peaks of Parker Mountain to the south. An uneasiness gnawed at her but she tried to ignore its insidious creep, centering her thoughts on her daughter. Isabeau was settled, happy in her new life with her husband Pierce, a man she had traveled to another time to find. How was this time travel even possible? Despite her own experience, Elise did not know.

      Settling deeper in her chair, Elise no longer fought against the scenes which played across her memory. Lips curved tenderly, she recalled her Darien.

      It was only when she closed her eyes or dreamed at night that Elise saw him. Otherwise, his face was elusive. In the beginning, she had spent much of her time sleeping in the hope of being reunited with him in her dreams, but it had never happened.

      He'd been so gallant, her love, so caring -- a man who would have surely cherished their daughter Isabeau.

      Elise sat up with a jerk as rain began to pelt the window. Dismayed, she looked out at blackish purple skies which had vanquished the sun.

      As the rain blurred across the glass, she absently fingered the delicate chain on her neck. A gift from Darien.

      Melodic words played suddenly across her ears, words she hadn't thought of in many years:

      When the air is heavy and spring bursts upon the mountain,

      destiny calls to those who will listen.

      Heed the voice or forever be lost,

      for once the circle is closed

      two souls must be joined, or separated evermore.

      Mandine had made her memorize those words . . . but to no avail. Elise didn't know their meaning now any more than she had that night twenty-four years ago. She hadn't known then that the woman she had trusted with her life, Mandine, was intent on sending her away to a time in the future.

      #

      The rain stopped as abruptly as it had begun. The grayness cleared and a fierce wind from the north sent fluffy white clouds scuttling across the sky. Elise looked to the east, seeing the sun pouring like liquid gold over a small section of the mountain, a rainbow fading even as it appeared. The filmy ribbon of color seemed to begin in a thick stand of pines.

      Elise gripped the window sill.

      It was the Spruce Woods. . . she knew it -- the place she entered this time.

      Her heart began to pound fiercely. Pain tore through her body with sudden unexpectedness. It was crushing -- shooting like darts along her back and up her spine.

      Elise was reminded of a time not too long ago when she'd been rushed to the hospital. Was she to die this time? Pressing her lips together, she squashed the thought.

      It can't end like this, she muttered angrily, I won't be cheated a second time! With dark, tortured eyes, Elise lifted her gaze upwards. Do you hear me, Mandine -- I won't be cheated again! A jagged bolt of lightning lit the sky, its electrical charge seeming to split the heavens wide open.

      Elise clenched her teeth against the pain, pressing her forehead to the cool glass, fingers tightly clenched on the wooden sill. She leaned all her weight on her hands, unmoving, trying to catch her breath, each beat of her heart an agony. Gradually, the pounding eased.

      Jerkily, she walked into her bedroom, pulling open drawers, rummaging through clothing, papers, unmindful of the trail of clothes she scattered across the rug. She managed to pull a heavy sweatshirt over her head, smoothing it over slim hips, then bent and picked up her sneakers, wincing as she rubbed the persistent ache between her shoulder blades and the base of her skull.

      She dropped to the cushioning softness of her mattress, resisting the impulse which nagged at her to lay her head down. It would be so easy to go to sleep.

      Reaching over, she opened the bed table drawer and pulled out two small bottles. She put one of the minuscule white pills into her mouth, then placed the bottles in her fanny pack and snapped it around her waist.

      Her steps slow and measured, she walked up the stairs to the attic. Locating her sleeping bag, she went back downstairs, stopping several times as the stairs wavered before her eyes. She sat down on the narrow steps, willing the trembling to subside. Gaining her feet once more, she gripped the narrow rail and again descended the stairs.

      In the hallway mirror she caught sight of her reflection. Her face, white and pinched, was like that of a stranger. Violet shadows underscored her eyes.

      With grave intensity, Elise studied the frown drawing brows with a hint of red together. She adjusted her disheveled hair, half out of the casual knot she'd tied it in that morning. She should have cut it, but it was the only thing from her past she'd clung to. Her long hair. How he'd loved it. . ..

      The mirror reflected her youthful slimness, long legs, and a conversation came back that she'd had with her daughter not too long ago.

      Mom, you should be modeling in front of my camera. You'd look great in those clothes.

      Isabeau! You are the one who complains I am too old-fashioned. Think how you would feel if I began to wear the same clothes as your friends. Elise had laughed.

      You're the youngest mother I know -- and what a body! No one would ever guess you have an adult daughter --

      Elise remembered thanking her dryly.

      Gritting her teeth now as a new wave of discomfort shot through her, Elise forced herself to sit down at her desk. She had to focus her scattered thoughts, make plans, take care of loose ends. After a moment she pulled a paper pad toward her and began to write a note to her daughter.

      If something happened to her, Isabeau had a right to know the whole truth.

      #

      Elise sat in a rocking chair all night, thoughts chasing around in her head.

      How could she contemplate leaving her daughter, if indeed she did find the doorway back?

      During the long hours, Elise had relived her daughter's arrival into the world. Isabeau's birth.

      It was a time she, Elise, had been deeply depressed, selfishly allowing herself to lose the will to live. When the labor pains had intensified, she'd simply given up. The doctors had performed an emergency caesarian, saving her child.

      Hers and Darien's.

      Isabeau had been beautiful from the first moment. When the nurse placed her in Elise's arms, she'd looked down at the baby with disinterest, but then something magical had occurred. The baby, so small and helpless, resembled Darien with her blond tufts of hair. A fierce protectiveness had risen in Elise. She'd been ashamed of herself for letting her misery take precedence over the life of her child.

      Memories, fears, worries had run rampant through the quiet of the night. Elise wondered if she was crazy to think of trying to go back. She didn't know how she'd come here in the first place, except that Mandine had had a hand in it. How could she expect to find the way back now?

      How would her daughter feel if she left? Although Isabeau lived in Virginia now, they kept in touch and tried to see each other as often as possible. They were very close, but now Isabeau was married.

      Elise bit her lips, something whispering in her ear that the time was right and to cast away any lingering doubts.

      She watched the sun come up, the pain a dull, warning ache wedged between her shoulders.

      By eight, she stopped arguing with herself. Her choice had already been made. She knew Isabeau would understand her decision. Elise just hoped she was doing the right thing.

      #

      Elise closed the door, checking to make sure the key was under the front mat. The frightening pain had eased considerably, but it served as a reminder of the frailty of human life.

      As she left the house, the uncertainty of the future dogged every step. She had two choices, each one as difficult as the other. If she found the way back, she would be leaving her daughter behind. If she stayed, she knew with certainty that she would die. Yet despite the dreariness of her thoughts, her step was almost light. Elise walked across the springing grass of her back lawn to the edge of the woods.

      She couldn't explain it, but something was pulling her toward the Spruce Woods, where the rainbow had begun.

      It took an hour for her to reach her destination, then another fifteen minutes before she located the ramshackle old sapping house. Elise stared at it, comparing it to the last time she had been here. It was leaning to one side as if the slightest breeze would knock it to the ground. The door had been pulled off, but otherwise she supposed it looked the same.

      The same as it had sixteen years ago. The same as it was twenty-four years ago.

      She had stayed away for all that time . . . until now.

      The pain accelerated, lodging in her right arm, just below her armpit. It was a reminder there was not much time.

      Morbidly, she considered that perhaps this was to be her fate . . . destined to die in this lonely place where it had all begun. Her thoughts in a past time, her physical body in the present.

      She shivered at the heavy dampness of the air which clung to her like a second skin. Dropping her sleeping bag to the ground, Elise quickly gathered kindling and leaves, kicking them into a small pile just inside the door.

      Anticipation curled around her. Could this be it -- was the timing right? But how could it be? Her coming here today was just a coincidence born of melancholy thoughts -- wasn't it?

      Cautiously, Elise peered into the darkened interior of the shack, grateful there were no animals to contend with. The dirt floor was strewn with leaves and broken twigs. Moving her sleeping bag against the back wall, Elise sat down amidst a small billowing of dust, pulling her knees up. Her eyes felt incredibly heavy, and it was a struggle to keep them open. She'd walked several miles as the crow flew and now she yawned, stretching her legs out before her.

      She sat unmoving for some time, watching the sun creep down the wall as she fought to stay alert.

      It seemed too long ago, more than a normal lifetime. Sometimes she even wondered if she had not dreamed of her life before . . . Darien making love to her.

      She smiled sadly. They'd been so young. She was fifteen, he'd been only seventeen. Oh, but how they'd loved each other! He'd been so sweet and caring, so gentle with her. If only Mandine had not come that night! Her life would have turned out so very differently.

      Elise chided herself. The one saving grace was her daughter...

      She wiped impatiently at a lone tear as it crept down her cheekbone, staring into the deepening darkness. Despite her aloneness, Elise had no fear of the night.

      She had waited for Darien on many a night . . . they'd had many a secret tryst, each one more daring and dangerous than the last.

      Secret, because her father hated Darien.

      Dangerous, because if he'd caught them together, he'd have found a way to send away the boy she loved. Elise had known of her father's hatred, dreaded it, and foolishly had not thought to be more careful.

      Through the time that had passed, she knew Darien still had to be alive. Her heart would know if he had died. But he was far away from her.

      She sat up with a start, her contemplation of the past interrupted by rising winds and then rain as it pelted the tin roof. Elise moved closer to the wall, pulling the sleeping bag's downy warmth over her shoulders as the roof began to leak. All she needed now was for the walls to collapse on her. She gave a nervous laugh, imagining coming through the last twenty-four years and then dying under the rubble of an old sap house. No one ever came up here, except perhaps the stray hiker or two. They'd never find her body.

      Shivering, she looked up, moving again as water trickled on her. Even though it was spring, the temperature had dropped dramatically with the absence of the sun.

      Pulling out a lighter, Elise lit the kindling and leaves she had thought to collect earlier, watching the mesmerizing curl of orange and red flames as they licked greedily at the dry tinder.

      The smoke, at first choking and thick, cleared as it found an outlet in a gaping hole in the roof. Kicking the remainder of the sleeping bag out flat, Elise lay down, eyes intent on the fire as the breeze from the open doorway danced through it.

      Perhaps the notion urging her to this lonely place had been just that . . . a notion. How could she expect to return to the past the way she had come? She'd had no hand in it. It had been Mandine's doing, sending her here.

      Dispirited, her lids drooped. At first light she would go home. She was too exhausted to walk back tonight and doubted she would find her way back in the dark.

      She stared out into the darkness with hot, dry eyes, wearily admitting it had been foolish to come here.

      She didn't know how to get back home. She had been exiled from her own time in 1822, twenty-four years ago. Today it would be 1846 in that other life.

      #

      A confusion of dream images chased through her brain all night, permitting a restless, churning sleep. She found Darien in the dream, but he was married with six green-eyed, blond children.

      Elise came fully awake with a start, hearing the dry rustle of leaves. Lying still a moment, she looked out the open door, glad at least that the sun was shining. She hugged her arms to ward off the chill.

      Her fire had long ago extinguished itself from lack of fuel or a leaking roof, she wasn't sure, but all it was doing at the moment was smoldering, allowing a small trickle of smoke

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